Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 13, 1994 TAG: 9404130137
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The measures were among 20 vetoes that Allen imposed before a midnight Monday deadline to act on the 995 bills passed by the General Assembly. The governor proposed amendments to 160 bills and signed 815 into law.
The assembly will consider the amendments and whether to override the vetoes at an April 20 session. A two-thirds vote by the House and Senate is required to override a veto.
The pickup truck bill sponsored by Del. George Grayson, D-Williamsburg, would require seat belts on children under age 16 riding in the back of pickup trucks on interstate highways. Grayson said he proposed the bill because children have been killed or injured by being thrown from trucks.
But Allen said the requirement would be a burden on families who rely on pickup trucks for transportation. Allen said he and many others rode in the back of pickup trucks as children.
"We all survived," he said.
Grayson said the veto may have been political retaliation for his opposition to subsidies for the proposed Disney park and the nomination of Becky Norton Dunlop as secretary of natural resources.
"I don't know any other way to explain it," Grayson said. "It just makes no sense to deprive youngsters of this protection."
Grayson said he doubted there were enough votes to override.
As for the teacher certification bill, the governor said he had concerns about whether it was constitutional. The bill would create a board of teachers, citizens and local school officials to certify teachers, now licensed by the Board of Education.
The Virginia Education Association, the state's largest teacher group, backed the bill and another one Allen vetoed to require that seniority and experience be considered when teachers must be laid off. The VEA opposed Allen for election last year.
"The veto demonstrates the governor's lack of trust in the teachers of Virginia," said VEA President Rob Jones. "It's hard not to see it as retribution."
Robb said he doubted that the certification bill could be revived, but the veto might be overridden on the layoff bill.
Allen also vetoed a bill that would have allowed Virginia's congressmen and senators to choose the method of nomination when they seek re-election.
The measure was known as the "John Warner bill" because it would allow him to seek a primary rather than a convention in 1996, when some GOP right-wing activists may oppose him.
NOTE: Headline ran as "Seat beat bill . . "
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994
Memo: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.